Food dispensing systems have been regularly used in office, restaurant, and convenience store settings. Desirable characteristics of these systems include that the dispensing systems are easy to operate and maintain by the user and provide a hygienic and aesthetically pleasing interface for the user during operation. Some dispensers are adaptable to dispense a variety of food products.
Typical dispensing systems have been found to be lacking in one of these areas. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,826 discloses a food dispenser that requires the user to clean parts of the dispenser each time a new food container is loaded within the dispenser. Specifically, after the food container is empty, food product remains in the portioning arrangement and the food product tube. Food product must be cleaned out of these parts in order to avoid contamination with the food product in the new food container, which can be different from the previous food product. Moreover, the dispensing mechanism requires that manual force be applied to the spring-biased lid each time food product is dispensed.
Also, European Patent EP0067466 discloses a food dispenser that is limited to dispensing a food product from a single container. The reference teaches a metering device used to dispense food portions from a food container.
Thus, there is a need for a dispensing system that can be easily loaded with one or more food containers in a reliable and efficient manner that is preferably easy to keep in a hygienic condition.